What makes a game a hit?

[The Mole]

Just interested to know what the forumites views are on what makes a game a hit.

Games like Boom Blox and De Blob have done well with reviews, but the sales are still at the 700,000 ish mark for each title. Would breaking the million mark make them a hit?

Also on the same subject people talk about the lack of sucess for third parties on Wii, what would make a game commercial sucess?

[parkinho]

Interesting question. I guess from a publisher's point of view profitability is going to be the main factor, and IIRC Boom Blox did pretty well for EA without selling a massive number of copies.

However, I also think that publishers would be looking for games that sell well enough to spwan a whole series of sequels. So even if the original title didn't turn in a proft but recieved enough sales/critical acclaim to warrant further titles, then I guess in the long run this scenario could lead to more profitability being achieved, than a one-off title such as Boom Blox.

Or, maybe I'm talking rubbish as usual!

[mekanor]

im actually surprised those 2 games sold that much

[12-51-00]

I work in the film industry and we have this discussion all the time. In the end I think we agree that basically there's no real formula for being a hit, of course positive reviews and a high gross help, but in the end it's all PR and perception.

[Concrete donkey]

I'm going to have to go with advertising. No one in our store was interested in our import copies of Professor Layton until the adverts for the UK ones began and now we can't stock enough of them. Familiarity, brand names and word of mouth probably adds up to something too.

[The Mole]

So would it be far to say that nobody thinks its soley about the sales?

[Dogg Thang]

Well I'd say it depends on what you're looking for. Saying something is a hit or isn't a hit would, to me, usually totally depend on sales but that doesn't mean that every game that reaches a certain mark is a hit or one that doesn't hit that mark isn't. Expectations, the market and the type of game would have to come into it.

Halo 4 could sell the exact same numbers as a JRPG - one would be labelled a flop and the other a hit.

[monel]

I have no idea what makes a game a hit in these times, in the old days I think magazine reviews played a huge part, not sure about now.

I think it's all hype nowadays and miss the days of imported 16 bit Japanese games and even the old tape loading speccy/c64 days.

[The Mole]

That is exactly why i asked the question. I have no idea what makes a hit these days, what i am starting to undertsand is is seams to vary game to game.

If a game hit 700,000 sales to me i would say that game was a hit, say a developer makes $10 on each game that is $7 million for a game like Boom Blox or De Blob they surely did not cost anything like this to make resulting in a big profit. Yet i still hear talk of third party games being a faulre (mainly on Wii) when hitting these numbers.

Are people just expecting third party games to reach the heights of your Mario or Gears games if they are of a similar quality?